Thatgamecompany
Current Thatgamecompany, or thatgamecompany, is the game developer that this wiki is about. It was founded by Kellee Santiago and Jenova Chen. The studio is currently contracted by Sony Computer Entertainment to develop three PlayStation Network games. The first of these is Flow (2007), the second one is Flower (2009), and their most recent game, Journey (2012). The company currently employs 12 people. Jenova Chen announced shortly after the release of Journey that their fourth game would be revealed sometime later in the year. History In 2005, Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago were in their final year of their master's course at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. They had just released Cloud, a video game experiment that had gotten positive reception. They then founded their own company after they left college. This from Wikipedia: "At the time, digital distribution was gaining popularity. The two saw it as an opportunity to create games without the high financial risk of retail distribution, which they believed would require them to first accumulate funds by working for other video game companies. Thatgamecompany was founded on May 15, 2006, as Chen and Santiago finished their master's degrees. The company soon signed a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment, which had been impressed by Chen's Flash game Flow—a component of his master's thesis at USC. Thatgamecompany was contracted to produce three games for the upcoming PlayStation Network distribution system, and was given startup funding and a location at Sony's offices in Los Angeles. Initially, Thatgamecompany consisted of Chen, Santiago, Nick Clark, who had collaborated with Chen on Flow, and John Edwards. Santiago was the president of the company and the producer for its games, while Chen was the lead designer, Edwards the lead engineer, and Clark the designer. Although they considered adapting Cloud as their first product for Sony, they instead decided on Flow, as it was "more fleshed-out as a design". They felt that it would be easier than Cloud to develop while they built the company; no members of the team had experience with managing a business or with creating a commercial game. During development, Chen briefly worked for Maxis on the game Spore. Several contract workers assisted Thatgamecompany with Flow's development, includingAustin Wintory, the game's composer. The company originally believed that the PlayStation 3 version of Flow could be completed in four months, and that it would be ready for the November 2006 launch of the PlayStation Network. However, when it was finally released in February 2007, it did not include "half of the original design". According to Santiago, the Sony producer assigned to the team had anticipated that they would underestimate the game's development length, and was not surprised by the delay. The game was well received; it became the most downloaded game on the PlayStation Network in 2007, and was nominated for the Best Downloadable Game of the Year award at the 2008 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Interactive Achievement Awards, and for the Best Innovation award at the 2007British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. After its release, an expansion pack and a PlayStation Portable version of the game were created by SuperVillain Studios. Thatgamecompany was not involved in the development of either project beyond ensuring that they retained the same design and art direction as the original, as they were busy creating their next title,Flower. Flower was Thatgamecompany's "first game outside the safety net of academia," according to Santiago. Six to nine people were involved at different stages of development, and Chen remained with the studio for the entire project. The game's music was composed by Vincent Diamante, who had worked with Chen and Santiago on Cloud. The game was developed for two years, but the team spent three-fourths of that time in the prototyping stage. After they decided on the game's elements, Flower was produced in only six months. Like Flow, the game was well received when it was released in February 2009, selling in the top ten PlayStation Network titles of the year and garnering several awards. After the release of Flower, Thatgamecompany moved into their own building in Los Angeles. The company's latest project is Journey, which was released on March 13, 2012. It is the final game in Thatgamecompany's three-game contract with Sony, and was developed by a team of fourteen. This team does not include Santiago, who, in order to concentrate on her role as the company's president, was replaced as a producer by Robin Hunicke.The game was in development for three years, despite originally being expected to take one, and the development team faced several problems in expanding the company from seven employees as they began the game to eighteen, as well as risking running out of money. Upon release, the game achieved both critical and commercial success. It became the fastest-selling game to date on PlayStation Store in both North America and Europe. After the game was released, as the company began work on another project, several employees left for other opportunities. Santiago left the company to pursue other, unnamed ventures, designer Chris Bell left to form his own studio The Willderness, while Hunicke resigned to work at Tiny Speck. The company, with its contract with Sony complete, raised $5.5 million in venture capitalist funding, which they hope to use to develop future games for multiple platforms without influences by publishers." Category:Company